Everybody's Got A Little Light Under The Sun

The Final Countdown…Bah-dah-dah-dah bah-dah-dah-dah-dah!

Wow, my Twitter TL is saucy tonight…’cause there’s eating of people and stuff and you need sauce and I’m just going to shut up now. Anyway, it’s the final week till the first appearance of Francis Dolarhyde on Hannibal and Obscura and I have something really cool to celebrate. Last summer during the run of The Crucible a friend of ours went out of her way to get us a poster signed by The Dude and now it’s time to give it away.

This one, in fact. Forgive the glare but check how legible the sig is!

So, to win this fabulous, signed by The Dude poster you know what to do, right? Leave a comment with a kindness that you’ve done or that’s been done for you and we’ll draw one name from all commenters next Saturday around 9PMish ET. Cool? Cool. Okay, cue the hairband and happy commenting!

I just arrived on assignment to Korea about three weeks ago. I’m at Camp Casey, up near the DMZ, and I’m just blown away by how kind, patient, and generous the Korean people are. I’ll be starting a Korean language course soon, but in the meantime I only know a few phrases – yet when I’m out and about in Dongducheon, the locals I interact with take the time to help me with my pronunciation, or we work out what we need to between my tiny Korean and their (much, much better) English. This is a very great kindness I get from the townspeople and one I’m endlessly grateful for.

I don’t need to participate in this draw as I have my own Crucible goodies right here at home and would rather see that others who aren’t as lucky as me have a go at this, but just want to say that I love that you guys are doing this. 🙂

While we were out for lunch @ Monell’s (if you’re in Nashville and love family style, Southern comfort food, I cannot recommend Monell’s enough, but I digress) last week on our vaca, I noticed two gentlemen in military uniform @ the table next to us. I wanted to buy their lunch, but as I reached into my “mad money” stash to grab the cash, they rose from their meal and were exiting faster than I could get out of the corner where I was sitting; so I had to ask Hubby to run the $$$ to the cashier. They were on their way to Arizona to pick up a couple helicopters. Little did we know that, two days later, just south of Nashville in Chatanooga, five other military heroes would be gunned down by a mad man full of hate. When Hubby returned to the table, he handed me a patch of the United States flag that one of the officers had removed from his uniform, which I will always treasure. The $30 I spent to treat those men to lunch isn’t the kindness. The kindness is their willingness to stand between me and hatred.

Ladies – you are great. So glad to see the STL page making a comeback. I’ll be tweeting this on.
As for a kindness – I was in London last week, as you may know. On Friday I was making my way from the airport to my hosts when the London Overground experienced some delays due to a fire. The platform in Whitechapel, where I was waiting, was getting really crowded, partly due to a large group of French school kids. When the train finally arrived, there was jostling and shoving on the platform, and I entered the train behind a young woman who had a baby strapped to her front. All around us, the enthusiastic, energetic kids were piling into the carriage, pushing and shouting. I ended up deliberately putting myself between the young mother and the kids, blocking the surging crowd, because I was afraid for the little baby on her front. She actually noticed my move and was grateful.
Oh, and I could also cite my wonderful friends in London as people who did *me* a great kindness and spontaneously put me up for the night when I missed my flight on Friday. Or the wonderfully calm and efficient member of staff at the British Airways desk in London City Airport who rebooked me on the next convenient (and affordable) flight.
Thanks, girls!!!

In early June this year I went to buy my lunch from a small grocery shop next to my work place and the lady before me tried to pay her small groceries with her credit card but it didn’t work (for some reason). As I was in a bit of hurry and she didn’t have any cash which I surprisingly had (I usually don’t carry any cash) I paid her groceries too. She was so surprised she didn’t even say anything and I didn’t mind, I was just happy to be able to perform this little everyday kindness.
I’m trying to keep Gandalf’s phrase as my guidance: “I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

Real life has its challenges and sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming. During one of those recent times, a little package arrived in the mail. A lilac candle … a scent that brought me back to childhood and ensconced me in the nostalgia of Grandma’s warm farm house. It was just the right thing at just the right time! Thank you to my dear guardian angel!

Oh sugar – hit post too quickly. This mention of a kindness was not for my name to be put in to win the signed Crucible poster, but for shieldmaidenofscotland’s name to be entered into the contest for her many kindnesses and amazing spirit. She of the lilac candles, wise words, awesome observations, humour, giggling, and awesome taste in handsome men to swoon over 😉

While coming home from town the other day I had a tire blow out on my car. I had turned off onto the dirt road on which I live and slowly made my way forward to stop in front of a neighbor’s house (they are few and far between out this way). It was yet another scorching hot south Alabama summer day.

Robin came out to greet me and soon after that her husband Randy, who had not been home from work very long, came out and changed the tire for me while I visited with Robin and their cats in the comfort of their home. I had tried to call Benny as soon as I stopped the car but the signal kept dropping out. By the time he came looking for me, the car was ready to go again and I had enjoyed a glass of ice water and a pleasant visit with a neighbor and friend.

Benny offered to pay Randy but he shook his head and said, “I know you’d do the same thing to help out Robin.” And of course, he would. I am so grateful that the blow out did not happen in another spot causing me to wreck and blessed to know that we have such nice neighbors.

I’m a fan! A kindness well it’s simple but I visited my elderly neighbor, she lives by herself and her husband passed away two years ago she’s back home from a hospital stay due to pneumonia so my mom and I stopped in to visit with her for a while 😊

I made a pledge a while back to never spread negativity on the internet. I try everyday to leave encouraging comments to others, and I only post beautiful images, stories, ect. I believe that kind breeds kind, and I can honestly say that it makes my online experience better. Cheers & thank you for the opportunity in your contest!

Also, not sure if this qualifies but I volunteered this summer to take over pet calendar project for our humane society. It’s taking a fair amount of my time but it will help bring in monies to help save more animals’ lives.

I had recently started going to a new church where I didn’t know anyone. The first Sunday I was driving home when I noticed a young lady I had seen at the service walking in the direction I was going. I couldn’t stop then as I was approaching a major intersection and she was on the opposite side of the road. The next Sunday after the meeting had ended I caught up with her in the foyer and asked if I could give her a lift. She responded joyfully and I was happy as well. She lives in my neighbourhood and now we have become friends and I pick her up on Sundays and Wednesdays. She has enriched my life with her sunny and warm disposition. Thanks for what you’re doing; it’s lovely. ❤

I think fan kindness if paramount for all to enjoy the social media experience, period. Rude and demanding fans do nothing to further their cause and why would an actor even bother to answer someone who is rude? Nice fans=nice celebrities=selfies=more tweets=more autographs!

Last school year a young African American student came into the library to print out sheet music that he has composed himself. When I looked at it, it was a classical piece composed for viola. My father is a violist so it got my attention. It’s not exactly the glamour instrument in the orchestra.

As I got to know this student I learned that his family had recently lost their house, and had moved into a cramped apartment. The instrument he had practiced on was a school instrument that he had to return and he didn’t have anything to practice on. I teach at an inner city school, so finding students who like string instruments in that particular neighborhood is rare. Most want to be DJs or rappers.

At Christmas, I bought him a viola, but because I didn’t want him to feel obligated in anyway, I had our school’s registrar, who mothers our school’s homeless kids (we have over a hundred) give it to him. He was thrilled to get it. I never did tell him who it was from. He graduated in June.

I was walking through my city two days ago when I encountered a man who had fallen on hard times. I didn’t have any cash to give him, so I went to the nearest shop and bought him lunch and something cold to drink. I don’t like to see anyone going hungry and I always help when I can.

This is not only a kindness given to me by one person but by many.
I suffer from depression and sometimes the bad phases get really rough. This is nothing new for me, it’s been like this for years. But the last half year something has changed; I’ve made an Instagram fan account.
This account is about my favourite character (Thorin Oakenshield) and it gained a quite big amount of followers in short time.
But not the amount of followers I got changed something, it was the amount of friends I got with them.
Firstly, my account was just a normal fan account, talking about the movie and other kind of fandom stuff but slowly it got more personal.
It turned kinda into a blog of my live which showed both the good and the bad sides of my personality.
I still remember the first time I had a very bad phase of depression since having my account. I had hurted myself and was so low and for some reasons, I don’t knoe them anymore, I told my story in one of my posts.
The response and support I got back was so big and overwhelming I couldn’t believe it.
Get well wishes, own stories told to me, encouraging words and lots of love – that’s all what I got instead if the pity and hate for my weakness that I expected.
This love and support has been there all the time and it helped me to deal with my illness.
These people on Instagram who I don’t know in real life have done that for me what in real life nobody could yet do:
Understanding me without judging and giving me the love I need.
Without them I probably wouldn’t be here anymore and that is for me the greatest act of kindness I can imagine ever given to me.

Cyrael, have you read Matt Haig’s memoir “Reasons to Stay Alive”? It’s about his struggle with depression. He’s a wonderful author who wrote the book “The Humans”. It’s on my list of things to read because of all of the positive feedback it’s received.

Of course I really want the poster, as I have nothing signed from Richard, so I started thinking of good deeds. I was surprised how hard it was to think of something. Not because I am a bad person, all the opposite, I do my best to help, but because I just never stopped to think what I was doing was a good deed or not.
People are terrible nowadays, I noticed. Many people do not even say “thank you” or “please” anymore. But there are a lot of good people out there and small acts of kindness are done everyday.
My favourite day this year (so far) was last Saturday. I was in London and decided, after buying some fruits, that it would be a good idea to have a picnic in Regent’s Park. I sat under a tree and starting eating fruits, no big deal. Suddenly I realized a squirrel was sitting next to me, looking at my fruits, so I gave him a small piece. Ok, I got a new best friend. 😀 It stayed there for some time, eating fruits until it was satisfied. I love animals, so it made my day.
When I was leaving, I noticed there were some homeless people sitting in a corner of the park. As I had still fruits and some extra food, I distributed it among them and sat with them for a while, talking about life.
They were surely happy about the food, but it seemed the talk made them even happier. People usually ignore them and they were very happy to chat for a while.
And no, they did not beg, ask for anything or steal from me. I hate the preconception people have of homelessness. It’s all the opposite: they are nice people which are just down on their luck for now. Some might act badly in a moment of despair, but they are mostly good people put in an awful situation.
Spending the morning like that made me feel warm inside. I know it sounds here as I am describing my acts of charity, but believe me: they saved me even more than I did anything for them. They did me a charity in sharing their stories and making me feel like I was making a difference.
It was a pretty awesome day. Cheers!

I just woke up today with a beautiful breakfast made by my husband. I have been depressed and he wanted to help me feel better. I don’t know if it counts as an act of kindness, but after years of taking care of everything and everybody, it is nice to have someone taking care of me, even if for some minutes. I wish you all have a great day and find/have someone so wonderful in your lives. Cheers!

Thank you so much for doing this! ❤
I am not sure whether this counts as kindness, but my best friend lives across the European continent from me and had thus never really managed to see any of her favourite actors, especially from the Tolkien movies live. I had recently moved to London when it was announced that the final Hobbit world premiere would take place here. So I emptied out my bank account and my savings and bought her flight tickets to come over. I lived on cup noodles for a month afterwards but the fantastic weekend we both had was entirely worth it.

I’m always trying to do little acts of kindness in my day to day life, and find myself on the receiving end of other people’s kindness too. For example, recently I’ve escorted a cat off of a road that didn’t seem to notice the cars going by, and on two separate occasions I’ve been given day-to-go bus tickets that others have no use for. There’s plenty of good to be found in an average day.

My best friend sends me e-mails at work when I’m eeally stressed with cute animals or funny memes. To get a random email when incredibly stressed that makes me smile changes my whole day. I now likewise do the same for others that appear to be having a bad day. A smile can change everything and it doesn’t cost anything.

Helping someone and feeling good about it.A few days ago I helped a friend.We never met but I feel shes a friend,To help her get ahead and get a job,.My neighbor next door has a autistic child,she with him 24 7,she has no car.I take her grocery shopping and to the Post Office,whenever she needs to go.The little bit of gas for the car doesn’t matter when you know your helping..We should all help others

I’m living in a current state of kindness. After working for years full time in administration I have chosen to finally step out and spend a year towards starting a new career in play-writing. But the cost to move to the city where there are more writing communities was going to be too much if I wanted juggle between writing (in which no reward will come till the end of the year) and working casually. The answer to my prayers – some very kind friends who offered me a room and their old exquisite mahogany desk at a very low cost in order that I may give my dream a shot this year and see what eventuates. I am truly indebted to them because otherwise I may still be working full time and struggling to get any writing off the ground. I hope I make them proud.

A few months ago my car lost power in the middle of a busy street during crazy rush hour traffic; it was totally dead. A young man walked up to me from back in the line of cars and proceeded to push my car across 3 lanes of traffic (while wearing flip-flops!) to an empty side street while I steered. When I was falling all over myself to thank him, he said someone had done the same thing for him and he was just paying it forward. I look for chances to pay it forward every day.

Reblogged this on Armitage Agonistes and commented:
For some reason, Word Press turned off my follow of FBD’s blog. ( And I’ve been away from things a lot because I just moved from one place to another ( yes again). Take me out of consideration for the poster – a friend sent one to me last year, so I hope some fan who doesn;t have one, wins. And here’s my act of kindness, ( there have been so many from friends helping me with this move, but one couple, went out of their way to pick me up late on moving day, solely for helping me transport Mulligan, my cat, who was freaked out from the packing ( and more freaked out when he arrived in his new house)

I’m a nurse by trade and I try to go above and beyond as much as I can. One patient in particular brings to my mind the “Pay it forward” motto. She was an elderly patient who had to come to our facility for some long ignored medical issues she was having. I say ignored because the last few years prior to her coming to us she had devoted herself entirely to caring for husband who was suffering from late stage alzheimer’s disease. She stated to me that she would never of saught medical care for herself if it wasn’t for her husband who had recently begged her to seek treatment. She thought she was suffering from a urinary tract infection but sadly it was much worse, due to malnutrition and ignoring critical signs and symptoms her urinary tract was closing in on itself. She was unable to urinate and stated she was ready for her life to end, she went on to say that she had no one except her husband. No children, no family, no help in caring for herself or him. The doctor had explained to her that she need surgical intervention and without it she would die. I stood outside the exam room in tears listening. The surgery would have to be a larger facility that was 2 hours away. She had no way of getting there, no way of taking care of her husband while she was gone and in recovery. I immediately began contact with non profit organizations to set up care for her husband for while she was away, I set up transportation for her to get to and from the surgical center, and was even able to obtain assistance for her return home so she would no longer have to face the difficult care of her husband alone. The doctor was astounded by my actions and stated I did not need to do any of that, it wasn’t my job. I saw it as a part of my job though. As I saw the patient gathering her things to leave I heard her say that she had a long walk home, due to the appointment running late she had missed the bus. I told her to meet me at the nurses station, I went and grabbed my keys from my locker and I drove her home. In the car I explained to her that I had set things up for her transportation, care and for her husband so that she could get the treatment she needed. Before she got out of my car she gave me the longest hug I have ever received from a stranger. She asked me why I did it, that I didn’t know her. I told her I did it because I wanted to help her. I believe in paying it forward.

Last week I hurt my back and was in deep pain. I could barely move. One of my friends happened to call me and asked what was wrong; said she could tell from the tone of my voice that something was going on. When I told her she said, “I’ll be there in half an hour.” True to her word, she came over and – to my surprise – she brought dinner. After sharing it with me, she took out the trash and then gave me a back massage for a very long time, working on every knot she could feel. Thanks to her kindness, I was able to sleep peacefully through the night. I am very blessed to have friends like her.

(You are kind to giveaway your poster; many of us couldn’t make the trip to London. Thank you.)

It may not seem like much, but I ride the Subway all the time and after hearing so much about “manspreading” and general seat hogging it melts my heart when I see so many men (and ladies) give up their seats for the elderly, kids and women on my commute.

I prefer most of my acts of kindness to be “behind the scenes”. But I find that listening to strangers or friends with interest and caring is a great way to give of yourself.It is not just listening to people who have something to “get off their chest” but people who just want to talk and pass the time with someone who cares about what they have to say. For example, I helped an elderly neighbor clean out a closet. The entire time she talked about her career as a stewardress for American Airlines in the 50’s and her life since then. Every outfit she took out of the closet had a story or a memory attached and she wanted to tell me about every one. All I had to do was listen.

I’m a good listener, not a person that talk too much, maybe it’s because i’m shy… anyway i have a collegue of mine, a very sensible girl (and someone things she’s a stupid blondie, stupid people), she is in a not a great mood, she has many doubts about his life and work and she worries so much about what some persons think about herself, so i talked with her and tryed to explain her that she is a special person and she needed to move on from these kind of thoughts, because nobody has the right to pull her down. She was so glad i talked with her, really happy and i am happy if in such way i helped her, maybe only a bit.

I kinda want to say my patients at work. They teamed up and did everything to support my co-workers and I when the medical public health consultant showed up yesterday unexpectedly. We passed the inspection with flying colors but it was fantastic to see their support.

The poster could go up on our hidden ‘wall of men’ wall at work. My co-workers texted me support and ‘you go girl’ messages. It feels amazing that they did that. We are a effing good team!

I am a disabled veteran (U.S. Navy) and I have had a some trouble with pain and pain management. I was on Twitter just killing time and commented on this one particular young ladies post and she talked with me! For a long time! Then it happened again with another young lady! Then again! They talk with me at length and it seems that their interactions with me help me mentally control my pain. You can’t imagine the length of time these wonderful young people have spent with me! They are polite and attentive and genuinely appear to be interested in listening to the ramblings of an old squid! Interestingly enough, all three seem to have this Armitage affliction. I don’t really understand it. Three candidates to win the poster… Livia, Liesbeth and Viola. They have given so much of themselves to help heal me and they have no clue. They are just plain sweet nice girls who genuinely care for people.

Just reading everyone’s stories has been a real treat for me, a gift in and of itself beyond the opportunity to win an autographed poster. And lending a listening ear is one of the best gifts we can give–it’s giving a part of ourselves. ❤

Aren’t manners nice? I’m always a little bit gobsmacked when students at my school do simple things like hold the door or say please and thank you. One thing is for certain, I always remember people who have manners and go out of my way to help them (or delete late fines if they are students). Manners are such a rare, fair feature anymore.

And this has nothing to do with manners but reading all of these makes me want to share. We have one teacher at our school, Mrs. P, who every year during Secret Santa week, leaves something in every teacher and support staffer’s mail box. All of us for an entire week. She’s a special person.

And Mr. M in our special Ed department. Every Thanksgiving he and the other teachers in the SpEd department serve Thanksgiving dinner to all of the SpEd students and all of the homeless students at our school.

And Miss A, our registrar. She and her children were homeless once. Many mornings, early before school starts, she’s out pulling a red wagon full of granola bars and other breakfast snacks up and down the hallways just to make certain that any student who came to school hungry can get something to eat. She pays for this herself.

I told my hair dresser Nicole about this yesterday, and she volunteered to cut hair for twenty of our homeless kids when school starts up again. Whe the office reopens in August, I’ll tell Miss A about it so we can get some kids to her.

When my work contract finished last year, my boss said she’d call me if anything came up. True to her word after 3 months of unemployment and struggling to pay my bills and mortgage she called me and offered me a job….I now work there permanently.

Hi Everyone – Sidewinder Obscura here (I see so many new “faces” that I thought I should introduce myself!) I’ve been popping in and out and I have to tell you how thrilled I am that so many people have stopped by to drop a note about kindnesses given or received! It has really made my day!!

Keep ’em coming…big and small, here at STL, all kindnesses are created equal. As long as it is here prior to 9PM ET on Saturday 7/25, your name (or your proxy’s name since several people have deferred to a friend) will be included in the drawing.

Watch this space after the perfectly RAndom hour of 9PM CST/10PM ET for a new “toothy” kindness challenge to mark the a certain dude’s debut in Hannibal!

My husband and I have made the commitment to adopt two low vision kittens. My older sister has been visually impaired since birth and is legally blind, and I spent three years teaching at the Alabama Institute for the Blind. So when I found out about these kittens, my heart simply went out to them. It’s hard to get perfectly healthy kittens adopted around here, much less those who have a handicap. Naturally, they will have to remain inside kitties. We want to give them a loving him here with us and our other pets. I have visited with them and held their little fuzzy bodies against my chest. Indeed, they already have my heart. Just have to finish getting things prepared here at the house. ❤

Reading these has been wonderful! I have 2 to share, one given, one received. The received? My wonderful co-worker voluntarily gave me part of his hours next week. He’s full-time & I’m only part-time. If he hadn’t, I’d only be working barely 20 hours & trying to feed a family of 4, while paying utility bills too. I am so thankful to him for this.
The given: I work in a dollar store which serves as a very small town’s general store. A gentleman came in a couple of weeks ago. He had to use a cane to walk as one knee was in brace. We had him sit while I gathered everything he came for, bagged it, and loaded everything in his SUV for him. In the course of our talking, I found out that he’d had a stroke, was diabetic, & his wife had left him. And he’d had to have his knee replaced (hence the brace). He apologized for not being able to shop for himself. I told him not to – I was happy to help. And when he comes back in, I’ll gladly help him again.

best lunchtime in a while reading everyone’s stories 🙂
Adding one more: I’ve had this twitter friend for years, we never met but we’ve chatted plenty about music and favourite singers and such. A while ago found out through her lovely brother that he had haemorrhage in her brain and it was hairy for a long while, she is now in recovery in a good place. Just wanted to say i thought it was particularly thoughtful of him to let us know how she was doing while he was busy driving miles and miles to see her and deal with other urgent family matters as well, in all his trouble he thought of people he hardly knew and who might be worried knowing nothing about his sister.
Now that she’s ok to listen to music and read i’ve sent him a little USB stick with some goodies, theatre bits and videos and concerts of her favourite singers which i hope will cheer her up and distract her on her long road to recovery. And i am just grateful it is a happy ending yet, however long the recovery will take.
And a big shout out to the drivers of my supermarket delivery van who help carry all my stuff to the second floor where i live, they are my life savers! 🙂

My seven year old dog has to have an eight hour procedure tomorrow. I am freaked out to say the least (third test in three weeks) and so many people have been kind. From the vet spending time explaining everything to me, to the vet tech who said my dog wouldn’t have to be caged – he could have his own exam room all day. My friends who have called and my sister who is taking me out to lunch to cheer me up. I am disabled and home alone most of the time so my dog is my close companion. Best of all NO ONE has said “It’s only a dog.”
I don’t want to be entered for the poster but I do want to say reading this tonight was uplifting. Thank You 😀

Amen to that–as someone who loves animals and is currently spending a lot of time working on a pet calendar fundraiser and using my blogging skills to seek help for a low-income elderly couple who needs help with their overflow of felines, I would NEVER say “it’s only a dog” or “it’s just a cat.” They are members of your family. I hope the doggie is doing OK now, too. XOXO

His name is Kirby. He has been acting fine except for an increased thirst. When they took blood it showed three separate problems. He has a marker for a tumor, they believe he has Cushings disease and Hyperlipidemia which is somehow related to his liver. Pretty shocking when you think your dog is healthy. Today is to verify Cushings which is why it is an eight hour test. They had an exam room for him with a big blanket when I dropped him off. Sorry if this is TMI ;(

I’ve been fortunate enough to receive the photo that I had sent to Richard at the start of the year signed by him, so this comment isn’t for myself to go in the draw for the poster, but for another whose name I will email to you.
In the past week or so I have donated three bags of clothing and a box of household goods to a charity thrift shop, been on the receiving end of a fellow RA fan’s generosity and kindness, as well as being able to help her out, and given a heater to a girlfriend for her daughter and baby to help cope with the cold winter we are having. A couple of weeks ago I had a brief episode of heart palpitations at the gym I attend (more worrying for the staff member than for me!) I was able to drive myself home afterwards, but was only allowed to do so when I promised to assure her that I had arrived there safely. Yes, it’s her job to look after clients, and they can certainly do without a medical emergency on their hands, but she wasn’t just being a good employee, she was very caring, and I appreciated it very much.

These stories have really been an uplift for me, along with hearing from animal lovers who have submitted their pet pix to our humane society calendar contest and little details about their pets and why they mean so much to them—I have had tears come to my eyes, but in a good way.

I hope it is not to late. If it is, nevermind. 🙂 I don’t have specific event to describe, but I am more inclined to do what I can given the situation. I do give my clothes to charity groups, buy things at auctions to help groups taking care of animals, namely cats and dogs, which I do on monthly bais. Also recently there are lot of poor woman and children coming to beg for food or money, so we give them (my family and me) at least something for you can’t be blind and ignore them for one sees how they swallow their pride to ask for help. It is maybe small help, but at least is something.